Chap. 364.—An ACT to provide for the compensation of attorneys for the Com-
monwealth in the counties and cities, county and city treasurers, and county
and city commissioners of the revenue, and officers and employees performing
the duties of such officers in counties which adopt optional forms of county
organization and government; to prescribe the method of fixing and paying
their salaries and the expenses of the operation of their offices; to provide
for the payment of such salaries and expenses; to provide for the disposition
of the fees collected by such officers; to provide for a Compensation Board to
administer this act; to provide for the powers, duties and functions of such
board: to abolish the State Fee Commission; to appropriate funds for the pay-
ment of salaries and expenses and for the administration of this act; and to
repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act. [S B 180]

Approved March 29, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. On and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and
thirty-four, the attorney for the Commonwealth for each county and
city shall be paid a salary for his services and the fee system as a
method of compensating such officers shall be abolished. Every such
attorney for the Commonwealth, shall, however, on and after the first
day of July, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, continue to collect all
fees which he may be entitled to receive by or under the laws (other
than from the Commonwealth and any political sub-division) and shall
dispose of the same as in this act provided. All allowances out of local
treasuries to attorneys for the Commonwealth, other than the sums pro-
vided for by this act, shall be discontinued as of the said first day of
July, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, for services performed on and
after the said date. One-half of all fees to which attorneys for the
Commonwealth are entitled on and after the first day of July, nineteen
hundred and thirty-four, for the performance of official duties or func-
tions, shall be paid by them or such official or officials as may collect the
same, not later than the tenth day of the month following their receipt
into the treasuries of their respective counties and cities, and the re-
maining one-half of all such fees shall be paid by such official as may
collect the same into the State treasury, not later than the tenth day
of the month following their receipt.

Section 2. On and after the first day of January, nineteen hundred
and thirty-five, the treasurer of each city and the commissioner of the
revenue of each city shall be paid salaries for their services and the
commission and fee system as a method of compensating such treasurers
and commissioners of the revenue shall be abolished. All fees and com-
missions provided by or under law to be paid such treasurers and com-
missioners of the revenue shall be abolished as of the first day of
January, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, except those fees paid city
commissioners of the revenue for issuing licenses and making real estate
transfers. The clerks of the courts of record of said cities shall con-
tinue to collect the said real estate transfer fees and pay ninety per
centum thereof into the treasuries of their respective cities not later
than the tenth day of the month following their receipt. Such officers
as may be authorized by law to collect city licenses shall hereafter col-
lect all city license fees and apply them to the credit of their respective
city treasuries. The treasurer of the several cities shall hereafter collect
all State license fees and apply them to the credit of the State.

Section 3. On and after the first day of January, nineteen hundred
and thirty-five, the treasurer of each county and the commissioner of
the revenue of each county shall be paid salaries for their services in
accordance with the provisions of this act. Such officers having been
put upon a salary basis by an act approved April first, nineteen hundred
and thirty-two, the act aforesaid shall continue to apply to the said
officers until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-five.
All fees and commissions provided by or under law to be paid such
officers prior to the taking effect of the act aforesaid shall continue to
be abolished, except those fees paid county commissioners of the reve-
nue for issuing licenses and making real estate transfers. The clerks
of the courts of record of said counties shall continue to collect the said
real estate transfer fees and shall pay ninety per centum thereof into
the treasuries of their respective counties not later than the tenth day
of the month following their receipt. The treasurers of the several
counties shall hereafter collect all other fees of the county commissioners
of the revenue not abolished, and shall pay the county fees into the
county treasury and the State fees into the State treasury.

Section 4. The annual salaries of attorneys for the Commonwealth
under this act shall be within the limits hereinafter prescribed, that is
to say ;

In counties having a population of five thousand inhabitants or less,
such salaries shall not be less than seven hundred dollars nor more than
one thousand dollars.

In counties having a population of more than five thousand inhabit-
ants but not more than ten thousand inhabitants, such salaries shall
not be less than six hundred dollars nor more than eighteen hundred
dollars.

In counties having a population of more than ten thousand in-
habitants but not more than twenty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than one thousand dollars nor more than twenty-five
hundred dollars.

In counties having a population of more than twenty thousand in-
habitants but not more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants, such sal-
aries shall not be less than one thousand dollars nor more than four
thousand dollars.

In counties having a population of more than twenty-five thousand
inhabitants but not more than thirty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than fifteen hundred dollars nor more than four thou-
sand dollars.

In counties having a population of more than thirty thousand in-
habitants, but not more than fifty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than two thousand dollars nor more than four thousand
dollars.
In counties having a population of more than fifty thousand inhabit-
ants, such salaries shall not be less than three thousand dollars nor
more than five thousand dollars.

In cities having a population of ten thousand inhabitants or less,
such salaries shall not be less than six hundred dollars nor more than
eighteen hundred dollars.

In cities having a population of more than ten thousand inhabitants,
but not more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants, such salaries shall
not be less than six hundred dollars, nor more than four thousand dol-
lars.

In cities having a population of more than twenty-five thousand in-
habitants but not more than fifty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than twenty-five hundred dollars nor more than six
thousand dollars.

In cities having a population of more than fifty thousand inhabitants
but not more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, such salaries shall
not be less than forty-five hundred dollars nor more than six thousand
dollars.

In cities having a population of more than one hundred thousand
inhabitants, such salaries shall not be less than six thousand dollars nor
more than seventy-five hundred dollars.

But nothing herein contained shall prevent the council of any city
having a population of more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand
people according to the nineteen hundred and thirty United States census
from supplementing the salary of the attorney for the Commonwealth
in said city for additional services not required by general law, provided,
however, that any such supplemental salary shall be paid wholly by
such city.

Whenever an attorney for the Commonwealth is such for a county
and city together, or for two or more cities, the aggregate population
of such political sub-divisions shall be the population for the purpose
of arriving at the classification of such attorney for the Commonwealth
under the provisions of this act.

Each assistant attorney for the Commonwealth, heretofore author-
ized by law if his services shall be deemed necessary by the compensation
board shall receive an annual salary of not more than two-thirds of the
salary received by the attorney for the Commonwealth of his county
or city.

Section 5. The annual salaries of city treasurers and city commis-
sioners of the revenue under this act shall be within the limits herein-
after prescribed, that is to say;

In cities of the second class having aggregate levies of less than one
hundred thousand dollars or populations of less than five thousand
inhabitants such salary shall not be less than twenty-one hundred dol-
lars nor more than twenty-six hundred dollars.

In cities of the second class having aggregate levies in excess of
one hundred thousand dollars, but not in excess of one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars and populations in excess of five thousand in-
habitants such salary shall not be less than twenty-six hundred dollars
nor more than thirty-seven hundred dollars.
In cities of second class having aggregate levies in excess of one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars and populations in excess of five
thousand inhabitants such salary shall not be less than thirty-two hun-
dred dollars nor more than forty-two hundred dollars.

In cities of the first class having aggregate levies of not more than
four hundred and fifty thousand dollars such salaries shall not be less
than four thousand dollars nor more than forty-eight hundred dollars.

In cities of the first class having aggregate levies of more than four
hundred and fifty thousand dollars and not in excess of one million
dollars such salary shall not be less than five thousand dollars nor more
than six thousand dollars.

In cities of the first class having aggregate levies of more than one
million dollars and a population of not more than seventy-five thousand,
such salary shall not be less than five thousand dollars nor more than
seven thousand dollars, and where such population exceeds seventy-five
thousand, not less than six thousand dollars nor more than seventy-five
hundred dollars.

For the purposes of this act the term “aggregate levies” shall be
construed to include all local and State levies and local and State licenses
extended or assessed by the several commissioners of the revenue in
their respective cities for the year nineteen hundred and thirty-two.

But nothing herein contained shall prevent the council of any city
having a population of more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand
people according to nineteen hundred and thirty United States census,
from supplementing the salary of the commissioner of the revenue in
said city for additional services not required by general law, provided
however, that any such supplemental salary shall be paid wholly by
such city.

Section 6. The annual salaries of county treasurers under this act
shall be within the limits hereinafter prescribed, that 1s to say;

In counties having a population of five thousand inhabitants or less,
such salaries shall not be less than seventeen hundred and fifty dollars
nor more than three thousand dollars.

In counties having a population of more than five thousand inhabit-
ants but not more than ten thousand inhabitants, such salaries shall not
be less than two thousand dollars nor more than thirty-five hundred
dollars.

In counties having a population of more than ten thousand inhabi-
tants but not more than fifteen thousand inhabitants, such salaries shall
not be less than twenty-five hundred dollars nor more than four thou-
sand dollars.

In counties having a population of more than fifteen thousand 1n-
habitants but not more than twenty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than three thousand dollars nor more than forty-five
hundred dollars.

In counties having a population of more than twenty thousand in-
habitants but not more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants, such sal-
aries shall not be less than thirty-five hundred dollars nor more than
fifty-five hundred dollars.

In counties having a population of more than twenty-five thousand
inhabitants but not more than thirty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than four thousand dollars nor more than fifty-five
hundred dollars.

In counties having a population of more than thirty thousand in-
habitants, but not more than forty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than four thousand dollars nor more than six thousand
dollars.

In counties having a population of more than forty thousand in-
habitants, such salaries shall not be less than forty-five hundred dollars,
nor more than sixty-five hundred dollars.

Section 6-a. The minimum limits of the salaries, provided by this
act are hereby increased to the extent of five hundred dollars in the
case of treasurers in counties adjoining one or more cities of more than
twenty-five thousand inhabitants, whether such cities be within or with-
out this State.

Section 7. The annual salaries of county commissioners of the
revenue under this act shall be within the limits hereinafter prescribed,
that is to say:

In counties having a population of five thousand inhabitants or less,
such salaries shall not be less than twelve hundred and fifty dollars nor
more than twenty-five hundred dollars.

In counties having a population of more than five thousand in-
habitants but not more than ten thousand inhabitants, such salaries shall
not be less than fifteen hundred dollars nor more than three thousand
dollars.

In counties having a population of more than ten thousand inhabit-
ants but not more than fifteen thousand inhabitants, such salaries shall
not be less than two thousand dollars nor more than thirty-five hundred
dollars.

In counties having a population of more than fifteen thousand in-
habitants but not more than twenty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than twenty-five hundred dollars nor more than four
thousand dollars.

In counties having a population of more than twenty thousand in-
habitants but not more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants, such sal-
aries shall not be less than three thousand dollars nor more than forty-
five hundred dollars.

In counties having a population of more than twenty-five thousand
inhabitants but not more than thirty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than thirty-five hundred dollars nor more than five
thousand dollars.

In counties having a population of more than thirty thousand in-
habitants, but not more than forty thousand inhabitants, such salaries
shall not be less than thirty-five hundred dollars nor more than fifty-
five hundred dollars.

In counties having a population of more than forty thousand in-
habitants, such salaries shall not be less than four thousand dollars nor
more than six thousand dollars.
Section 8. For the purpose of this act, the population of each
county and city shall be according to the last preceding United States
census; provided, however, if the area of any city has, since the last
preceding United States census, been increased by annexation, the
population of such city, for. the purpose of this act, be the population
thereof as shown by the last preceding United States census, plus the
increase resulting from such annexation. The maximum limits of the
salaries provided by this act are hereby increased to the extent of
fifteen hundred dollars in the case of officers in counties adjoining one
or more cities of more than twenty-five thousand inhabitants, whether
such cities be within or without this State, and in case of cities adjoin-
ing or within one mile of another city of more than one hundred thou-
sand inhabitants.

Section 9. There is hereby created a board to be known as the Com-
pensation Board, which shall consist of the Auditor of Public Accounts,
the State Tax Commissioner, as ex-officio members, and one member,
who may or may not be an officer or employee of the Commonwealth,
who shall be appointed and designated as chairman of the board by the
Governor and who shall hold office at the pleasure of the Governor.
The ex-officio members of the said board shall not receive any com-
pensation for their services as such members. The member designated
by the Governor as chairman shall receive such compensation as such
chairman as the Governor may allow but it shall not be in excess of
forty-five hundred dollars per annum, or if such chairman be an officer
of the State or is otherwise employed by the State, his compensation as
such chairman shall not exceed three thousand dollars per annum.

The chairman of the board shall supervise the administrative work
of the board, shall receive, file, collate and classify the reports of the
respective officers required to report to the board, call meetings of the
board whenever any matters arise requiring its consideration or action,
and have available for and lay before the board all information neces-
sary for the decision of questions coming before it. He shall conduct
all correspondence with the various officers within the jurisdiction of
the board and institute and supervise investigations into the affairs and
conduct of all such offices, as and when the board may direct. He shall
preside at all meetings of the board, and cause to be prepared and re-
corded proper minutes of the action taken at all such meetings, and
keep and preserve all papers, books, correspondence and records of the
board.

Section 10. On or before the fifteenth day of October in every
year, except the year in which they are elected and on or before Novem-
ber fifteenth in any such year, or at any time after June first in any
vear, whenever requested by the chairman of the board and within ten
days after such request, it shall be the duty of every officer mentioned
in sections one, two, three, four, five, six and seven of this act to file
with the chairman of the board, upon forms prescribed by it, a written
request for the allowance of the said officer’s salary, and the expenses
of his office, stating the amount of salary requested, and itemizing each
item of expense for which allowance is sought.
The chairman of the board may, at any time, submit to any such
officer a written questionnaire concerning the affairs of his office, to
ascertain all facts relevant to the determination of the proper allowance
to be made with respect to such officer’s salary and the expenses of his
office. It shall be the duty of every such officer to answer fully and
completely all questions so propounded and within five days return said
questionnaire to said chairman.

For the period beginning July first, nineteen hundred and thirty-
four, and ending December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty-four,
each attorney for the Commonwealth shall file with the board, on or
before the twentieth day of June, nineteen hundred and thirty-four,
such information as the board may require concerning salaries and ex-
pense allowances for that period.

Section 11. All salaries, expenses and allowances of all such officers
shall, if possible, be fixed and determined on or before December thirty-
first of each year for the following year; provided, however, that sal-
aries and expense allowances for attorneys for the Commonwealth for
the period beginning July first, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, and
ending December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, shall be
fixed as soon as practicable after the twentieth day of June of the said
year. It shall be the duty of the board, at meetings duly called by the
chairman, carefully to consider the questionnaires and written requests
filed as required by section ten of this act, and to consider the work in-
volved in the discharge of the duties of the respective officers, the
amount expended or proposed to be expended by each for clerks, dep-
uties and other assistants, the efficiency with which the affairs of each
such office are conducted, and such other matters as the board may
deem pertinent and material, and after such consideration the board
shall fix and determine what constitutes a fair and reasonable salary
which should be paid to each such officer, and to his clerks, assistants and
deputies, and all other expense items requested.

When the salaries for the several counties and cities have been
tentatively fixed by the said board they shall notify the council, board
of supervisors or other governing body of each city and county of the
amounts so fixed. Within thirty days thereafter, but not later, the said
council, board of supervisors or other governing body may file with the
compensation board any objection it may have to the salary so fixed.
When such objection is filed the said board shall fix a time for a hear-
ing on such objection, of which time the said council, board of super-
visors or other governing body as well as the officer affected shall have
at least ten days’ notice. For the purpose of determining the merits of
such protest, the said council, board of supervisors or other governing
body may designate two members of such body to serve as additional
members of the compensation board and such additional members shall
each have one vote on the said board.

In no case shall the total of the combined compensation of any such
officer and the expense of his office be increased prior to July first, nine-
teen hundred and thirty-six, any provision herein to the contrary, not-
withstanding.
Section 12. The chairman of the board shall record the salaries fixed
for each such officer, his clerks, assistants and deputies, and the allow-
ance made for other expenses, and shall promptly notify each such
officer of same with respect to his office.

Prior to holding any such meeting for the fixing of said salaries
and expenses, as provided in this act, ten days’ written notice of the
time, place and purpose of such meeting shall be given every officer
affected and to the mayor of the city or the chairman of the board of
supervisors or other governing body of the county affected.

Section 12-a. Any officer whose salary or expenses of office are
affected by any decision of the board under this act, or any county or
city affected thereby, or the Attorney General as representative of the
Commonwealth, shall have the right to appeal from any such decision
of the board to the circuit court of the county or the corporation or
hustings court of the city in which the office affected is located; and on
such appeal all questions involved in said decision shall be heard
de novo by the judge of said court, and his decision on all questions
shall be entered of record in the common law order book of said court
and there shall be no right of appeal therefrom.

Section 13. The salaries fixed in accordance with the preceding
part of this act shall be paid in equal monthly installments, and the
expenses of office within the limits fixed by the board, shall be paid
monthly on the submission of satisfactory evidence that such expenses
were actually incurred.

The salaries and expenses of attorneys for the Commonwealth in
counties and cities shall be paid in the proportion of one-half by the
respective counties and cities and one-half by the Commonwealth. The
salaries and expenses of treasurers and commissioners in the counties
and cities shall be paid in the proportion of two-thirds by the respective
counties and cities and one-third by the Commonwealth; provided, that
the salary and expenses of any city treasurer who neither collects nor
disburses local taxes or revenues shall be paid entirely by the Common-
wealth, and that the salary and expenses of any city treasurer who
disburses local revenues but does not collect the same shall be paid in
the proportion of one-third by the city and two-thirds by the Common-
wealth.

The State’s proportion of the salaries and expenses of the treasurers
and commissioners of the revenue under this act shall be paid out of
the appropriations in the general appropriation act for assessing prop-
erty for taxation and collecting and distributing records of assessments
and for collecting State taxes and the State’s proportion of the salaries
and expenses of the attorneys for the Commonwealth shall be paid out
of the appropriation in the general appropriation act for criminal charges.
The cost of administering this act shall be paid out of the fees paid
into the State treasury pursuant to the provisions of this act. Such
payments shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants of the Comp-
troller, issued on vouchers signed by the chairman of the Compensation
Board.
The several salaries fixed by the Compensation Board in accordance
with the preceding part of this act to be paid for the year nineteen
hundred and thirty-five shall continue as so fixed for succeeding years
at the same amounts; provided, however, that the said Compensation
Board may thereafter increase or decrease the salary of any particular
officer, within the limits fixed by this act, when in its opinion, changed
circumstances so require, or when, so requested in writing, prior to
July first of the calendar year preceding the year for which such change
is requested, by the council, board of supervisors or other governing
body having jurisdiction, or by the officer whose compensation is af-
fected. Such request by the local governing body or by the officer af-
fected shall set forth in detail the facts and circumstances upon which
such request for a change is based.

Section 14. The provisions of chapter three hundred and two of
the Acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-two, shall continue to govern
and control the compensation of the officers, the disposition of their
fees and commissions, and the conduct of the offices of city sergeant
and clerk of the courts in the cities affected thereby, provided, however,
that the compensation board shall perform the duties imposed by the
said act on the State Fee Commission. The compensation of the treas-
urers, commissioners of the revenue and Commonwealth’s attorneys in
said cities shall not be controlled or affected by the provisions of said
chapter three hundred and two of said Acts of nineteen hundred and
thirty-two.

Section 15. The provisions of sections thirty-five hundred and six-
teen, thirty-five hundred and sixteen-a and thirty-five hundred and six-
teen-b, of the Code of Virginia, are continued in force as to all officers
other than those mentioned in sections one, two, three, four, five, six
and seven of this act, and the Compensation Board shall exercise all the
powers and perform all the duties conferred or imposed on the State
Fee Commission by the said sections of the Code of Virginia and any
other provisions of law as to the officers not covered by this act, and
the State Fee Commission is hereby abolished.

_ Section 16. The Compensation Board shall, in the manner here-
inbefore provided, determine the compensation and expense allowances
for the Commonwealth’s attorney, the treasurer and the commissioner
of the revenue for each county which adopts any form of county or-
ganization and government provided for in sections twenty-seven hun-
dred and seventy-three-n one to twenty-seven hundred and seventy-
three-n fifty six, both inclusive, of the Code of Virginia in the same
manner as if such county had not adopted such form of county organiza-
tion and government and had continued to have all of such officers, and
thereafter the portion of such compensation and such expense allow-
ances payable by the Commonwealth shall be paid into the general
fund of the treasury of the county; the actual compensation and expense
allowances to be paid the attorney for the Commonwealth, the treasurer
and the commissioner of the revenue, or the officers, agents or employees
performing the duties and exercising the powers thereof, of the said
county, shall be fixed and determined as provided in the said form of
county organization and government without regard to the limits pro-
vided for in this act.

2. All acts and parts of acts, both general and special, including
charters of cities and towns, inconsistent with the provisions of this
act are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.